The invention relates to an apparatus to feed in metered (or dosed) manner, flowing media, in particular such as hot-melt glues, cold glue, lubricants, paints or the like.
A known apparatus comprises a deposition head fitted with an outside surface into which issue a large number of mutually spaced flowing-media feed ducts arranged in a row, at least one of said ducts communicating through a spacer plate with a deposition module having a nozzle head to deposit adhesive in spots, lines or zones onto a substrate moving past, each spacer plate making available a duct spanning the distance between at least two feed. ducts and an assembly position for the deposition module.
Such a state of the art already is known illustratively in the form of a deposition head with intermediate plate allowing to position a deposition module also in a zone between two glue feed ducts. While this design makes it possible to also advantageously mount a deposition module between two feed ducts, on the other hand different spacer plates shall be required for different assembly positions between the feed ducts. Moreover the deposition heads require fasteners for affixation to the spacer plate.
Furthermore a deposition head is known, though not from the literature, which allows affixing the deposition modules using a rotatable spacer plate. However the nozzle adjusting range is quite narrow in this state of the art. Also, the distance between nozzle and substrate increases disadvantageously on account of the changed position of the deposition module. Again, a jet of medium which is obliquely applied to the substrate hampers precise positioning and formation for instance of an accurately bounded glue spot.
Based on the first cited state of the art, it is therefore the object to create apparatus controlling flowing media and allowing affixation of the deposition modules in every position at minimal effort.
This problem is solved by the features of claim 1, in particular by those unique to the invention, whereby the spacer plate is mounted in continuously adjustable manner at the outside surface along the mouths of the feed ducts at the deposition head.
The apparatus of the invention henceforth makes it possible to affix deposition modules mounted on one or more spacer plates in any arbitrary position. This feature substantially lowers the cost of converting a deposition head when another substrate must be fitted with a liquid medium.
In one embodiment of the invention, the deposition head comprises a guide channel running parallel to the feed ducts and receiving at least one channel or sliding block displaceably connected to the spacer plate. In this design, repositioning can be implemented merely by laterally displacing the spacer plate jointly with the deposition module by partly loosening the connection between spacer plate and channel or sliding block.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the spacer plate""s surface facing the deposition head is fitted with a slot receiving a flat seal comprising the junction duct. The above slot is easily processed into the surface facing the deposition head in this embodiment of the invention, while the flat seal, which also is easily manufactured and which in its relaxed state slightly projects from the groove, only requires being inserted into this slot.
In a further embodiment of the invention improving positioning, the slot may be bounded bilaterally with one closing plate each mounted to a side of the spacer plate, thereby allowing accurate positioning of the flat seal in the slot.
A further embodiment of the invention comprises a junction duct directly processed into the spacer plate""s surface facing the deposition head, said junction duct being sealed merely by affixing the spacer plate to the deposition head. Because the spacer plate is pressed against the deposition head in this embodiment of the invention, the junction duct is sealed by the bilaterally abutting metal surfaces.
The above embodiment may be altered to the extent that only a recess is made into the spacer plate""s surface facing the deposition head, said recess receiving a flat seal comprising a junction duct. This feature offers the basic advantage of lesser compression being required between the spacer plate and the deposition head because in this instance the seal is not metallic.
In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the spacer plate is fitted with an integrated air connector which can be hooked up by means of a multi-way valve and a flexible hose, further by a pneumatic connector, to a compressed-air tube running parallel to the deposition head""s outside surface. On account of this easily restructured and flexible compressed-air infrastructure, changing the spacer plate""s position and hence that of one or more deposition modules shall be simplified further and last but not least the displaceability of the spacer plate shall be substantially increased.